The Changing Tides
by Miren and Rhun
Summary: First the itching, then the burning. And as he clutched tight to the arms of the man embracing him he felt himself tottering on the edge of sanity and wondered if it would just be easier to fall off. A NedxJojo fic, set right after the movie. Prologue up.


**Authors Notes at bottom of page.**

**Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Horton Hears A Who, and if I ever claim to you may correctly assume I am being sarcastic. Trust me, if I owned Horton Hears A Who there would be a lot less family moments and a lot more slash. But hey, that's just me.**

**Warnings: This fic is for the pairing Ned/Jojo, so that makes it both slash and incest. If you dislike either, or both, of these things, or the couple in general, then may I direct you to the top left corner of your screen. See that little 'back' arrow? I suggest you press it. I take no further responsibility for any further warping of your minds; I have done my part by simply warning you, it's not my fault if your eyeballs turn to pus from reading my fic. Heck, I'd find it funny.**

**Reviews cherished, flames used to roast marshmallows at the next 'slash fan girls convention'.**

**Note: Okay, a small authors note here. This is just the prologue, so do not assume most of my chapters are this dreadfully short. My average chapter length is about 2200 words, and always above 2000. The author's notes on this part of the fic are also quite long, and will be considerably shorter for future chapters. That said, on to the fic (assuming you didn't vomit your brain out your nostrils at the coupling mentioned).**

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

His hand was still on his back.

Even after they'd finally reached the top of Mount Nool and been placed in their new home, even after everyone had thanked Horton and said their goodbyes, even after the sun had long since set on the horizon and the elephant had departed, promising to return as often as possible to check in on them, the hand remained, embedded in the fur of his shirt.

Jojo didn't know why it bothered him.

Finally his father turned to him, a rather sad smile on his face. His hand tightened slightly in the fur and a slight pressure was added, coaxing him forwards.

"Come on son, let's go home."

Jojo obliged, stepping back into the office, now bathed in darkness, and entering the chute which would transport them to the floors below. All the while, the hand was there, applying warmth and pressure between his shoulder blades.

When they finally reached home, his father removed his hand and pushed the door open gingerly, afraid of waking the rest of the family. They had departed earlier, when the horizon still glittered with the dark orange of sunset. Jojo had opted to stay with his father as he said his goodbyes to Horton though, preferring the relative quiet of night to the loud noises emitted by his many sisters when night fell and they had to go to bed.

Once sure he had not disturbed any of the houses other occupants, his father slipped through the door, Jojo right behind him. The door was nudged back into its frame with care, the only sound to spoil the silence being the brief click of metal as the lock snapped back into place. His father let out a short sigh, leaning against the wood of the door, before peering down at Jojo and smiling.

"Son, I just wanted to thank you again for helping today. We couldn't have done it without you."

The whisper seemed to hang in the air, some unknown force causing it to swirl about him in a timeless dance, echoing in his ears. Jojo opened his mouth to answer and was suddenly enveloped in warmth. The hug caught him off guard and he stumbled over his sentence, mouth flapping like a fish out of water. Gathering himself together, he found his arms strangely resistant to his whims, finding himself unable to move them more than an inch. His arms prickled with warmth and his fingers were beginning to go numb, hanging limply at his sides as dead weight. Eventually he gave up on trying to move them and instead focused on finding his voice.

"Don't mention it dad." He uttered in a voice that was barely a whisper, but his father caught the words nonetheless. He pulled back and grinned at his son, detaching himself from the small boy and turning towards the staircase, looking forward to a few hours of rest after the day's events.

"Goodnight son." He mouthed over his shoulder, jumping the 12th step (which had been known to creak louder than a rusty spring) and slinking up the remaining stairs to his room.

Jojo stood in the hallway a while longer, staring up the stairs after his father. Eventually he turned around towards the corridor, heading to his room. The benefit of being the only male offspring, not to mention being the oldest, was that he got a room of his own. He secretly cherished this, he didn't know what he'd do if he had to share a room with his 96 younger sisters. A guy could only take so much.

Closing the door gently behind him he flopped onto his mattress, crawling forward so his head lay on the pillow and drawing the covers around himself. It only then occurred to him how cold he was. Unusual, as the air in his room was that of a summer evening, warm and temperate. He shouldn't need half the covers he had smothered himself with. Nevertheless, his skin bristled and he found himself covered in gooseflesh, still numb fingers rubbing his arms and legs in an effort to gain warmth. Only one spot on his body tingled with warmth though, a small patch on his back where mere minutes before a large palm had rested, directly between the shoulder blades.

It tingled with more than warmth.

It _itched_.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**And thus concludes the prologue. I hope it was okay. Personally I think the writing was a little shabby. I haven't been writing as often as I used to and I've been getting back into the swing of it. Tiring but nevertheless fun.**

**In any case. Yes, I know you're all wondering why I chose such a weird (and to many of you downright sick) couple to write for. Well, after watching the movie, I had already picked out my favourite characters and who (in my own twisted logic) would go well together as a slash couple (like any good yaoi fan girl). This one just happened to top the list. Remember, when pairing people together I completely disregard religion, race, gender, orientation, relation, current partners etc. I simply go by who I think would fit one another, or would be fun to see as a couple. And I'm really liking this one X3. I seriously doubt many others will like it, but that's not going to stop me writing it. I write for my own enjoyment, not to please the masses, or else I would have gone for a more orthodox couple, like Ned x Sally. Which, though sweet, is boring. At least in my own opinion. We also need a romance fic out there that isn't Jojo x OC. I don't have anything against them; it'd just be nice to see more pairings featuring canon characters.**

**Anyways, hope you all like it. I can't promise the next chapter will be out soon, but my break starts on Friday so I should get some writing done in the near future. And don't expect any proper romance for a while. With this sort of pairing you have to tread **_**exceedingly**_** lightly. And no, in my fic, Jojo is not emo. Simply because he isn't an emo in any case. Get over it. Though I admit there will be a small amount of unavoidable angst in the fic, it's impossible to write a pairing like this without it, but it will be kept at a bare minimum.**

**I accept both flames and reviews. Both serve to brighten my day and amuse me. Besides, flames are unavoidable here.**

**Flash **

**xxx**


End file.
